Product manager’s playbook: Top 4 skills that will make you successful
#3: Emotional Quotient vs Intelligence Quotient
Before going into the “how”, the first thing you need to ask yourself is “why” do you want to become a product manager.
When I talk to few aspiring product managers about their “why”, I usually get a response that goes like “I don’t like programming and coding, so this seems to be a good option that keeps me in touch with technology while also not coding” or “I want to be closer to the business” or “There is good money involved in it”. If you are someone looking to enter product management with any of the above assumptions, I would suggest rethinking your decision.
Being closer to the business, being more strategic than technical are just the by-products of product management but shouldn’t be the primary reason to select product management as a career.
Then how do you identify if product management is the career for you?
- Are you someone who loves building products?
- Are you someone who tries to reverse engineer most of the apps that you use?
- Are you someone who is an entrepreneur at heart?
- Are you someone who loves thinking about the future challenges of the product and proactively tackle them?
If you have answered yes to any of the questions above, you are in the right direction.
Here are the 4 traits which I find to be crucial in a successful product manager:
1. Storytelling
“Everyone and everything has a story……..”
Do you remember the time you were frustrated because you were not able to understand what the other person was trying to explain to you? That’s exactly why storytelling is the most important trait that any successful product manager possesses. Everyone has a story and everyone is inspired by a compelling story — part of the product manager’s job is to get the people working for the product, excited and inspired.
Not only does storytelling helps in getting your points across to your team but there will be times where you will need to lead a change in front of the C-suite executives — articulating your ideas, forming a story, and selling it to the C-suite executives will not only make you look knowledgeable but also someone who knows the core of the product (why, what and how).
How to improve storytelling skills?
Simple, try summarizing your day to your friend. As cliché as it may sound, it will do wonders. Whenever you want to explain something to anyone, your brain automatically tries to analyze what other person’s interests are and how you can keep them entertained with your explanation. Your brain tries to form a story in a way that focuses more on the items that the other person can relate with and less on what the other person may find boring.
Doing this exercise will ultimately train your brain to always think from a listener’s perspective and will help you in having the listener’s attention.
2. Entrepreneur at heart
“It’s not about ideas. It’s about making them happen”
When I say entrepreneur, I mean someone who treats the product as their own and takes care of it.
If you look at successful entrepreneurs, you will start noticing some common traits:
- Being passionate about their product
- Having a good sense of direction in which they want to steer their product
- Inspirational speakers
- Emit strong positive energy.
For one to become a successful product manager, one needs to think and behave like an entrepreneur. You should have
- Good observer skills — that enables you to observe gaps/issues in the current system
- Good product sense — that empowers you to see future potential in any existing application.
How to get those skills?
Let me start by saying that there is no easy way to get this experience but to go out and create something of your own. I know that it’s easier said than done so here are some practical steps one can take while also managing their day-to-day activities:
- Observe and identify the problem — try picking a problem that bothers you and which you have experienced
- Validate your problem — is the problem faced only by you or are there others who are facing the same problem? This involves market research and talking to your friends
- Narrow down your users — do most of your users come under teens or adults or people in certain professions?
- Conduct user interviews — become a user therapist (more on this later).
- PRIORITIZE — after the above steps, there will be multiple solutions popping in your head. The most important step is to prioritize what needs to be done now vs what can be pushed, which features are good to have vs which features are must-have
- Design your thinking — visuals are always better than just words so start designing your solution based on your prioritized list.
- Develop a prototype — Choose any tech stack and start with developing your prototype
You are okay to stop at Step 6 -the reason it’s okay to stop at step 6 is that technology is just an enabler and nothing else. Today you might use Angular for your UI, tomorrow you might switch to React; today you can host it on private cloud, tomorrow you might switch to the public cloud.
As you can see, technology can keep changing but what doesn’t change is the problem you are solving.
3. EQ over IQ
“Do you understand what I am saying? No, I understand what you want to say”
Let me tell you a secret — there is no problem with having a low Intelligent Quotient(IQ). Research has shown that Emotional Quotient(EQ) plays a major role in one’s success as compared to an individual’s IQ.
IQ is constant and something you are born with while EQ is flexible and can be improved. As Google defines it, EQ is one’s ability to manage, use and understand their own emotions.
You would ask, why is it so important to have good EQ for Product Managers? As a PM, you will face an ample amount of issues/challenges every day and while your mind is processing them in sequence, you still need to be in a mental state where your strategic decisions are not affected by emotions.
“Brain Fatigue” is a feeling you get after a long day at work after which you cannot make any sane decisions — consider your brain being at 100% battery level. As and when you start your day, each and every action of yours takes a certain % of your battery. It depends on you how much energy you want to spend on each decision (be it selecting a coffee type, or which color shirt to wear or should we go with Azure or AWS :P)
As a PM, you need to keep your battery levels in check for making strategic decisions while efficiently spending them on other mundane but necessary tasks; emotions take up most of your battery.
I am not saying to be as cold as a rock instead try to control the volatility of your emotions.
How to improve EQ?
- Meditate — as cliche as it may sound but imagine your brain working ALL THE TIME, it doesn’t get that space to clear out unnecessary stuff and create something new. Meditation gives your mind that small space where it can clear all the dirt and infuse your mind with fresh and creative thinking.
- Social interaction — try talking to everyone and anyone you meet; be it in an elevator or at a coffee shop or at the grocery shop. This will help you with your confidence and train your brain to get accustomed to different views/perspectives. So next time you hear something from your teammate, you would hear them out rather than being defensive.
4. User Therapist
“Tell me what I want without me telling you what I want”
Do you know what’s so special about a psychologist? They can read in between the lines — they ask you questions in a way that no matter how you answer them, they will know you and your emotions a lot better than you know it yourself.
As a product manager, we need to be a therapist to the user. The user will never know what he/she wants — the most they can help you out is by understanding what areas they are struggling with and which areas they want to see the improvements in. Your job is to read in between the lines — to understand what they want without them telling you.
Users shouldn’t and will never direct “What to build” but they will be of tremendous help to understand “Where to look for”
As a product manager, you are sitting right in between users, designers, technologists, and business folks. Everyone will look up to you with just one expectation “He/She knows what to build, who to build it for, and why” -if you are clear on these questions, you should be good to go!
Well, that’s it from my side — I will keep writing more articles as I keep encountering more questions from aspiring product managers.
Let me know if I can be of any help to anyone. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn for any questions!
